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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Russia Seeks Democracy After Soviet1 Collapse2
In the two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has made enormous economic progress. Incomes have increased 10 times. But bookending these changes are demonstrations3 - in 1991 against communism, and today to revive Russia's deferred4 dream of democracy.
20 years after fall of communism, Russians are demonstrating again
This time not for capitalist revolution, but for democratic reform.
Masha Lipman, who marched in the 1991 protests, is now an analyst5 at Carnegie Moscow Center;
"It's very symbolic6 that we are having this public activism on the rise exactly 20 years after the collapse of the USSR," noted7 Lipman.
In 1991, the first priority was economic. Vladimir Ryzhkov, at the time, was trying to run a provincial8 city.
"The economy was destroyed," recalled Ryzhkov. "Nothing worked. I remember we had meetings every day to discuss very simple questions: Where could we get coal? Where could we get kerosene9? We even had a meeting to figure out how to assure the supply of bread and milk for the city."
In the 20 years since the Soviet collapse, Russians' real incomes have jumped. But democratic institutions have not kept pace.
Lilia Shibanova, runs an election observer group called Golos.
"As for the democratic reforms themselves, they ended very quickly," said Shibanova. "It was too short a time that they tried in this country to have them. I mean, real representative government, real elections, real, open debates. These were all shut down very quickly."
Pollster Lev Gudkov says basic institutions did not evolve alongside Russia's new consumerism.
"Government is still vertical10, it is not controlled by the society and in essence, despite all the changes, is built the same way it was built in the Soviet Union. And its base is mainly political police, criminal police, there is no independent court, prosecution11 and system of education," Gudkov said.
Now, a decade of stability and an explosion in internet connectivity widen the gulf12 between Russians and their authoritarian13 government.
Igor Yurgens runs a think tank here. He says 90 percent of Moscow's adults are now online, while government bureaucrats14 remain "feudal15."
"I am hearing retired16 people, not very well dressed, who are on the internet saying to each other that 'I found a new hearing device,' It is a change of existential order," Yurgens said. "Feudalism versus17 modernization18 all in one basket which is not healthy which will find its resolution. Either evolutionary19, for which I have a lot hope, or revolutionary, which I hope we avoid we have had our share."
A big test may be the turnout for a big democracy rally planned for Saturday - ironically, almost 20 years to the day since Mikhail Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union.
1 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
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2 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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3 demonstrations | |
证明( demonstration的名词复数 ); 表明; 表达; 游行示威 | |
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4 deferred | |
adj.延期的,缓召的v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
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5 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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6 symbolic | |
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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7 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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8 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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9 kerosene | |
n.(kerosine)煤油,火油 | |
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10 vertical | |
adj.垂直的,顶点的,纵向的;n.垂直物,垂直的位置 | |
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11 prosecution | |
n.起诉,告发,检举,执行,经营 | |
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12 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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13 authoritarian | |
n./adj.专制(的),专制主义者,独裁主义者 | |
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14 bureaucrats | |
n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 );官僚主义;官僚主义者;官僚语言 | |
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15 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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16 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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17 versus | |
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下 | |
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18 modernization | |
n.现代化,现代化的事物 | |
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19 evolutionary | |
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的 | |
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